The Tenth That Flourishes

For Friday, November 18, 2005
Proverbs 14:11

The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.

The end of the wicked is seen everyday. They cheat their way to success and yet end in jail, are killed, experience some other kind of calamity. Because they build with worthless materials and through unethical practices, their very works lead to their downfall. But the upright, though they may experience trials, flourish. Many flourish materially because their integrity and wisdom bring success. Many may be poor and yet flourish in happiness through loving relationships. For many, they leave a flourishing legacy - their children succeeding beyond them, or, again, leaving a legacy of love.

One of our failures is to confuse who is rich and who poor even about ourselves. We may grumble that our unethical colleagues are doing better than we, failing to see the riches we have and their poverty. For anyone who has Christ is rich beyond all measure, and he who does not have Christ is utterly impoverished. Know what you have. Each day you should give thanks to God for the eternal glory and riches that belong to you, if you are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. For truly, living in the tent of Jesus Christ which flourishes eternally is wealth indeed.